The present invention relates to compositions and methods for treating disease states. More specifically, the present invention relates to compositions and methods for treating immune disorders, inflammation, and chronic infections.
Immune disorders comprise a group of conditions, characterized clinically by an increased susceptibility to infections. As a result, severe acute, recurrent, and chronic disease can occur which results from one or more defects in the immune system. See the Merck Manual, Fifteenth Edition.
Autoimmune disorders relate to disorders in which the immune system produces autoantibodies to an endogenous antigen, with consequent injury to tissues. See the Merck Manual, Fifteenth Edition, page 319. The Merck Manual lists the following disorders as being highly probable of an autoimmune disorder: Hashimoto's thyroiditis; Systemic lupus erythematosus; Goodpasture's syndrome; Pemphigus; Receptor autoimmunity, Graves' disease, Myasthenia gravis, and Insulin resistance; autoimmune hemolytic anemia; and autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura. The following disorders are listed as probable of an autoimmune disorder: Rheumatoid arthritis; Progressive systemic sclerosis; Mixed connective tissue disease; Polymyositis; Pernicious anemia; Idiopathic Addison's disease; Infertility (some cases); Glomerulonephritis; Bullous pemphigoid; Sjorgren's syndrome; Diabetes mellitus (some); and Adrenergic drug resistance (some asthmatics).
The following disorders are listed as possible of an autoimmune disorder: Chronic active hepatitis; Primary biliary cirrhosis; Other endocrine gland failure; Vitiligo; Vasculitis; Post-myocardial infarction, cardiotomy syndrome; Urticaria, atopic dermatitis, asthma (some cases); and Many other inflammatory, granulomatous, degenerative, and atrophic disorders.
Viral infections, as the name implies, results from an infection from a viral agent.
Acute viral infections result from exposure of the host to an infectious viral agent. The nature and clinical symptoms associated with the infection will vary depending upon the virus present. In many non-lethal acute viral infections, the host organism will mount an effective immune response to the invading virus and eventually clear the virus from its system entirely. Other viruses establish chronic infections in which viral replication and associated symptomatology occur continuously throughout the life of the host organism.
A smaller number of viruses, however, establish a different life cycle pattern. Infections caused by these viruses are marked by an initial, occasionally asymptomatic infection during which viral replication occurs. This is followed by a period in which infectious viral particles are not produced. The viral genome remains within the cells of its host organism but does not replicate. This period of persistent, but non-active, infection has been termed latent viral infection.
Viral latency has been clearly described among members of the Herpetoviridae family. There are six presently known herpes viruses: HSV-1; HSV-2; VZV; EBV; CMV; and HHV-6. It also appears probable that HIV-1, the virus responsible for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in humans, undergoes a period of latent activity. Schnittman, et al, The Reservoir for HIV-1 in Human Peripheral Blood is a T Cell That Maintains Expression of CD4, Science, Vol. 245, pp. 305-308, 1989.
Of clinical significance is the finding that this latent virus can, upon appropriate stimulation, reactivate. Reactivation gives rise to both the production of infectious viral particles and the appearance of symptomatology associated with recurrent infection. A variety of stimuli have been reported to reactivate latent viruses, including (but not limited to): fever; local trauma; exposure to sunlight or exogenous chemicals (including some medications); trigeminal nerve manipulation; menstruation; malnutrition; physical or emotional stress; concurrent infections with other pathogens; and alterations in immune status.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/769,194 entitled: "METHOD FOR TREATMENT OF LATENT VIRUS INFECTIONS" discloses a method for treating a latent viral infection comprising the steps of administering a non-cysteine substrate that stimulates the intracellular synthesis of glutathione.